January 6 prisoners lost jobs and families – pardon won’t erase scars of Biden’s ‘scorched earth’ campaign, says lawyer
DONALD Trump’s stunning blanket pardoning for the January 6 protestors won’t repair the pain already dished out, a leading defense attorney has told The U.S Sun.
John Pierce represented over 50 people who were charged following the now-infamous storming of the Capitol in 2021.
LIVING NIGHTMARE
One of his clients, Casey Cusick, told The U.S. Sun last weekend about his own personal nightmare of being thrown into a cockroach-infested jail for 10 days full of sex offenders despite being nowhere near any of the violence four years ago.
Cusick and thousands of Republicans descended to the nation’s capital to protest Joe Biden’s election win in 2020, only to leave with their lives in disarray.
The podcast host and Oklahoma car salesman was confident the returning POTUS would follow through with his claims and erase all charges.
And, sure enough, Cusick, along with 1,500 fellow protestors, was celebrating on Monday night after Trump wasted no time by wiping the slate clean, including those convicted of attacking police officers.
But Pierce claims some irreparable damage has already been done – and nothing can erase the nightmare of watching their “irrevocably altered” lives fall apart.
“Many of these individuals have lost everything and bear deep scars from the process,” the Florida-based attorney told The U.S. Sun.
“While a pardon is a formal forgiveness of the crime and restores civil rights like voting or holding a passport, it doesn’t undo the emotional, financial, or social toll.”
While Cusick has been able to resurrect his life and will crucially have his criminal record expunged, another of Pierce’s clients – John George Todd – is struggling to stay afloat.
Pierce says military veteran Todd, 34, who was convicted of injuring a police officer’s hand, has seen his life ripped apart.
Not only did he lose his apartment, wife, child, and job, but he almost lost his life after several suicide attempts.
Initially charged with misdemeanors, he refused to plead guilty.
But as the trial approached, prosecutors added a felony assault charge and a subsequent 20-year felony for obstruction of official proceedings.
The judge told Todd he had shown no remorse for his actions and said the Marine Corps veteran was “not a patriot.”
“This is not conduct becoming of a Marine,” the judge said, according to Associated Press.
“All he did was hold a flimsy plastic flagpole, which an officer broke and injured himself on with required stitches,” Pierce claimed.
Todd was convicted last May and sentenced to five years in prison. He was pardoned on Tuesday.
Yet despite Trump’s intervention, the attorney fears his situation “illustrates the lasting damage these prosecutions have caused.”
TRUMP INTERVENTION
Over 1,000 rioters had been sentenced, with over 700 receiving at least some time in jail.
The rest were given a combination of probation, community service, home detention, and fines.
On January 6, many were acting under the belief that the election had been stolen from Trump by fraud – an allegation still repeated by the returning president and his supporters despite his proven loss.
Trump himself had also faced an investigation over claims he pressured officials to overturn the 2020 election result.
He denied any wrongdoing after being accused of knowingly spreading a lie about the election and trying to explot the violence that broke out at the Capitol on January 6.
The interference case has been dismissed since Trump’s reelection but a report from special counsel Jack Smith, who led the investigation, said Trump would have been convicted if he had not beaten Biden in 2024.
The controversial mass clemency includes leaders of extremist groups and individuals convicted of violent assaults, erasing years of work by the Justice Department to hold rioters accountable for the infamous attack that stunned the United States and shocked the watching world.
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HISTORY LESSON
Lawmakers were quick to blast the move, with Nancy Pelosi calling it “a shameful insult to justice” and Chuck Schumer branding it “a green light for anarchy.”
Even JD Vance, Trump’s newly installed Vice President, had suggested just days earlier that such sweeping pardons weren’t on the table.
Trump, however, said the shock move was about “ending a grave national injustice” and “starting a process of national healing.”
“Historically, I’ve told my clients that the narrative will shift,” Pierce said.
“At the time of the Boston Tea Party, those individuals violated British law and were seen as insurrectionists, but history remembers them differently.
“Similarly, these people protested what they believed was a stolen election.
“Yes, some actions crossed the line, but many will be seen in a better light over time.”
The clemency includes 14 high-profile conspirators, whose lengthy prison terms were reduced to time served although their criminal records pertaining to the event will remain, while the rest received “full and unconditional” pardons.
Pierce recognizes some people on January 6 didn’t behave appropriately, but says the vast majority were harshly punished for voicing their opinions.
January 6, 2021: A timeline of events
On January 6, 2021, a group of rioters stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC, to protest the 2020 presidential election results. Here's a timeline of events of what occurred that day:
6:00am: A group of supporters for former President Donald Trump show up in Washington DC to attend a rally for him. Trump had tweeted about the rally a month prior.
11:00am: Trump’s rally, “Save American Rally,” kicks off. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. both speak.
11:50am: Trump begins speaking at the rally. He tells his supporters that “we will never give up. We will never concede.” He tells his supporters to go to the Capitol building.
1:00pm: Lawmakers gather at the Capitol to count Electoral College votes while protesters gather outside.
1:10pm: Rioters are on the steps of the Capitol building.
1:26pm: The Capitol police evacuate the Library of Congress, Madison Building and Cannon House Office Building. These buildings are across the street from the Capitol.
1:40pm: Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser orders a curfew in the city.
2:11pm: Rioters breach the perimeter of the Capitol building and scale the walls.
2:20pm: The Senate and House are called into recess and the building goes into lockdown.
2:38pm: Trump tweets, “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
3:00pm: Rioters officially break into the Senate chamber. Other rioters break into the offices of members of Congress and the Senate. Property is destroyed along the way. Rioters take photos of themselves on the Senate floor.
3:13pm: Trump tweets again about the situation. “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”
3:34pm: Rioter Ashli Babbitt is shot by a Capitol police officer as she attempts to climb through the Lobby’s doors. She later died from her injuries. Meanwhile, the National Guard is ordered to the Capitol by Trump.
4:00pm: President-elect Joe Biden addresses the nation and calls on Trump to “go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.”
4:17pm: Trump tweets out a video message to his supporters. “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt,” he said. He said the election “was stolen from us” but asked the rioters to “go home now.”
6:00pm: Washington DC goes under a 12-hour lockdown.
7:00pm: Trump is banned from Facebook and his Twitter account is suspended.
8:00pm: Former Vice President Mike Pence calls the Senate back into session.
9:00pm: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls the House back into session.
11:00pm: The House and Senate resume their joint session.
January 7, 3:42am: Joe Biden is officially declared as the next president of the United States.
Aftermath: As of September, the Justice Department has convicted over 1,000 people for the January 6 riots, and some 350 cases are still pending trial, per CBS News.
As lawmakers scramble to respond, the backlash is intense.
Many are fearing the precedent set by pardoning people involved in an unprecedented attack on the seat of American democracy.
Pierce, though, says the jury pool in a heavily Democratic city like Washington DC was always going to be “inherently unfair” and that crucial evidence was disclosed during trials.
“The events of January 6 were complex and lasted for hours across different locations,” he claimed.
“While some individuals acted improperly, there were also instances of excessive force by law enforcement that escalated the situation,” he claimed.
“There were many questionable aspects, including the rejection of National Guard assistance and the presence of undercover agents.”
“The administration embarked on a scorched-earth campaign as soon as January 6 occurred,” Pierce continued.
“They were very open and brazen about it, targeting hundreds of additional defendants until President Trump was inaugurated.
“If he hadn’t won, many of these folks would still be in jail, some for decades.”
For now, however, many of his clients can breathe easy and move on with their shattered lives.
Trump supporters are hailing it as a victory for “patriots” but Pierce wants a broken country healed, with the lessons of history resonating with everyone involved.
“Reconciliation is often the way forward,” he concluded.
“After the Civil War, Confederate soldiers weren’t imprisoned for decades. President Lincoln aimed to heal the nation.
“Four years later, it’s time to move forward and address our weaponized legal system.”